Proclad, a global precision engineering, manufacturing and service provider for the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, has announced that production is underway at its new manufacturing complex based in Dubai’s Technopark.

The Phase I facility, which is set to triple the company’s annual capacity worldwide, has seen a $400 million investment in four fully fledged manufacturing plants, a state-of-the-art research and development centre and a training academy that will offer co-branded courses in partnership with The Welding Institute (TWI).

TWI is the world’s largest training organisation in welding, welding inspection and non-destructive testing. It provides training and examination services via its network of offices and training centres (UK, South East Asia, Middle East, USA and China).

Commenting on the production launch, Yaseen Jaffer, Proclad’s chief executive, said: “The first two factories of our Phase I expansion were completed in July and met all of the industries’ stringent pre-production quality and safety standards. As a result we have been able to begin manufacturing a range of mythically clad products for our clients ahead of schedule.

Jaffer said two other manufacturing facilities were scheduled to begin later this year.

Proclad has earmarked a further $300 million for the Phase II expansion for which construction began earlier this year and is due for completion in 2011.

According to Jaffer, approximately 500 jobs are expected to be created when the facility is completed.

The UAE facility is the largest clad facility and offers additional services of shop pre-spooling, site welding, valve repair, valve refurbishment, heat treatment, protective spray coating and CNC machining.

The Proclad Group has manufacturing operations in Scotland, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait and Singapore.